Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue once again in the Dáil. The Government's position, and the position of Ireland, is clear. We are calling for a ceasefire that will allow humanitarian aid to get into Gaza, including food, fuel, medicine or whatever is needed. We are calling for the hostages to be released and we believe a ceasefire can facilitate that. We are calling for the killing to stop, and that is why a ceasefire must be adhered to by all sides, not just by Israel but also by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the other armed groups involved in this conflict. A ceasefire can create the space, perhaps, to begin contacts about the day after and about how Gaza is going to be returned to Palestinian control, and how it is going to be managed in the weeks, months and years ahead. That is why we are calling for a ceasefire, and that it is the position of the Government. That is very much our position.

We understand that there are some discussions under way between intermediaries involving the release of hostages. I had a chance to speak with the Prime Minister and foreign minister of Qatar only yesterday. I will meet today with the ambassadors of some Arab and Muslim countries. As the Deputy knows, the Tánaiste has been very involved in contacts as well. We are particularly pursuing the case of Emily Hand, a young Irish-Israeli girl who we believe is being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas. We are doing everything we can to make sure that, if there is the release of some hostages by Hamas in the coming days, children are first among those to be released. We are very strongly of the view that hostages should never be taken by anyone in any conflict anywhere, ever. However, the taking of children as hostages is particularly wrong. We are pushing and using all our contacts and abilities to ensure that if there is a hostage release in the coming days, Emily Hand is among one of those to be released. That is a major priority for us now as a Government. We should not forget that only one Irish citizen has been killed so far in this conflict, Kim Damti, who was killed by Hamas in Israel while attending a music festival, and there is an Irish citizen being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. We are doing everything we can to facilitate her release.

On the International Criminal Court, ICC, we have had contact with the court. There is an investigation under way and there has been for several years. It does not require another referral; that is just symbolic. What the court actually wants is something of real value, such as the resources and tools it needs to carry out the investigation. That is why we have provided an extra €3 million to the court to give it the resources and the tools to carry out the investigation. Where the Deputy differs from the Government, I think, is that her call is to refer Israel to the ICC. That is not how it is done. The court looks at the situation on the ground, and it is not just about actions that Israel has committed that may well be war crimes. It is also about things that Hamas may have done or that other armed groups have done. That is where I think we differ but perhaps the Deputy wants to clarify that.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The consequences are an investigation that is being carried out by the International Criminal Court, a body we support and to which we have provided additional funding as a meaningful action, precisely so that it can carry out the investigation it wants to carry out into activities in the occupied territories, by Israel, of course, but also by other militant groups, like Hamas, that may also have committed war crimes. That is the work the court is doing and we should support it in that work. It is why we have provided additional funding for the ICC to do exactly that.

In terms of further actions and further sanctions, I am strongly of the view that they can only happen on a multilateral basis. The whole point of imposing sanctions, and we have imposed sanctions on many countries for different reasons, is that they do more harm to the country being sanctioned than the country imposing the sanctions. That is why they only work when they are done on a multilateral basis, and we are nowhere near that point yet at European level or international level. I have said at European meetings, and I will say it again, that we cannot continue to aid Palestine and trade with Israel in the way we have done in the past. That is going to have to change in some way.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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The Government is running an advertising campaign to highlight the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It tells us that disability rights are human rights. It goes on to state, "Everyone in Ireland has a role in advancing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities." I really cannot imagine a more tone-deaf marketing slogan. That is all it is; a slogan. Disability rights are not rights people can exercise in Ireland. The only people who can do anything about advancing legal entitlements under the UN convention are the Taoiseach and his Government. The Government writes policy, has responsibility for providing services, allocates funding, sets recruitment targets and controls capacity. It is the Government's job to ensure no child is left behind and that every child has access to a timely assessment of need, appropriate services and educational supports.

The Government is failing on all counts. I should not need to remind the Taoiseach that disability services are on their knees. Rights are entirely notional. They exist on paper and in Government advertising jingles but not in reality. A total of 16,522 children are currently waiting for their first appointment with children's disability network teams. More than 10,000 of them have been waiting for over a year, with no intervention and no therapy. More than one third of posts in children's disability network teams are vacant. In some teams, vacancy rates are more than 60%. Because of this, some children wait for years for any supports at all. Then the parents of those children turn on the radio and hear they are responsible for advancing rights under the convention. It really is disgraceful.

What was left out of the Government's advertising campaign is that it has not signed up to the part of the convention that would actually allow people to exercise their rights. The programme for Government commits to signing and ratifying the optional protocol to the convention. We are three years into the Government's term and we do not have a date for ratification. Ratifying the optional protocol would enable disabled people to make complaints to the UN about breaches of their rights under the convention.

To make matters even worse, in response to my parliamentary question - I could not actually believe my eyes - the Minister informed me that the Government has spent €1.5 million on this essentially false advertising campaign. To put that €1.5 million in perspective the Government allocated just €64 million in the budget for additional disability services. Meanwhile, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, recently published a road map for children's disability services that is increasingly looking like it will be the road to nowhere with no additional budget. Does the Taoiseach accept that the Government has responsibility for ensuring people's rights under the convention? When will the Government ratify the optional protocol? When will the road map for disability services get a budget?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Cairns for raising this important question. It was during my first term as Taoiseach that we ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. We are not a country that just ratifies a convention and then moves on. We are a country that makes sure we have done what we need to do before we ratify a convention and that is what we did on this occasion. It was not straightforward but we got it done. I want to acknowledge in particular the work of the former Deputy Finian McGrath, as Minister of State with responsibility for disability during that Government in leading the charge to make sure we ratified that convention, which we did.

On disability services I know there is a lot of shortcomings. I would not deny that for a second. In some areas we have made a lot of progress, and particularly in education. Take for example the whole area of special education. There is now probably 15,000 or 20,000 special needs assistants now whereas there would only have been a few hundred at one point in the past. There is now a dedicated Minister of State with a dedicated budget for doing that, under the Minister of State, Deputy Josepha Madigan. There are additional special classes and additional special schools. I really think that on any objective basis we have made a lot of progress when it comes to education and also on social welfare. As the Deputy knows, there have been increased payments and increased supports to enable people with disabilities to enter the workforce and to facilitate employers to enable them to do so. We have done work around travel passes and medical cards reassuring people that if they take up work and they have a disability they will not lose their travel pass and will not lose their medical card.

In a lot of areas when it comes to services there are enormous shortcomings and we all know this from our constituency practices and from the people we meet who tell us about the delays they are facing either to get an assessment of need or to get the therapies they need. A lot of that is down to the non availability of the staff we need to do it and those who have the skills to do the work that needs to be done. We have provided an extra €195 million in the budget for 2024. The roadmap to improve access to children's disability network team services CDNTs was published only three weeks ago and there is a big focus on recruitment and retention of the staff we need to provide services that people disabilities need. There is a whole new grade of assistant therapy grades being funded in 2024, which we believe will help. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, informs me that we are undertaking a review of the steps needed to allow for the optional protocol to be ratified. It remains Government policy to do that during this Government's term of office.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Those kinds of platitudes and promises are something that people have heard so many times before. These bear no resemblance to the reality. The reports about disability services in Ireland are far from the language the Taoiseach is using there. It is language like "unmet needs" and "wasted lives". The Taoiseach has said that his Government was the one to ratify it. How many years later is it and the Government still has not ratified the optional protocol aspect of it? How many years has the Government had to get to that point? In this programme for Government there was a promise to ratify it but three years in and that has not happened. Progressing disability services is a failure. It is ruining people's lives. The worst part of it is that when a disabled person becomes an adult in Ireland that is when things actually get even worse. The Taoiseach mentioned employment rates. Ireland has the lowest employment rates for disabled people in the EU. There is no thought or consideration given to house building in relation to independent supported living and suitable housing. In the Government plans for housing there is absolutely nothing. It is all rhetoric.

We are three years into this Government. I will ask the Taoiseach the same question again. When will the Government ratify the optional protocol so people can actually exercise the rights on which the Government is spending €1.5 million on advertising?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We do not have a date for it at this stage but it remains Government policy and it remains a Government commitment to do exactly that during this term in office of this Government. The Minister is reviewing the steps needed to allow the optional protocol to be ratified. We will not wait for an optional protocol to the UN Convention to be ratified to make improvements in the lives of people with disabilities.

We are doing that.

I have set out what we have done in education so far. We have come on in leaps and bounds from where we were not so long ago. I have set out what measures we have taken in social protection, including the increases people will see this week and also in December, January and throughout next year; the work we are doing to increase the number of people with disabilities in the workforce, including in the public sector, for which we have set an enhanced target; and the reforms we are trying to bring in to improve service provision in particular, which I accept is nowhere near where it needs to be. The real difficulty is not a lack of political will, funding or ambition; it is simply not being able to find the qualified, skilled staff we need to carry out the assessments and provide the therapies people with disabilities need.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Dublin this weekend, outraged at the atrocities Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza. Thousands more will be outside the Dáil tomorrow evening calling on the Government to support People Before Profit's motion which calls for sanctions on Israel for the crimes it is committing - the massacre it is committing - in Gaza and for sanctions against Israeli Government representatives, officials and ambassadors who are involved in supporting or justifying Israel's massacre in Gaza.

One of the words that is and will be on the lips of protesters tomorrow - it was at the weekend - and is on the lips of millions across the world who are taking to the streets and protesting about the horror that Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza is the word "genocide". I remind the Taoiseach, because it has not come up in the discussion, that the Irish Government has obligations under the genocide convention, along with 140 other countries, which has been Irish law since 1973. The convention requires states to do absolutely everything in their power to prevent a genocide taking place. The definition of "genocide" is:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its

physical destruction in whole or in part;

...

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

It goes on. Craig Mokhiber, who was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, resigned on 28 October stating that what Israel was doing in Gaza to the Palestinians was a textbook example of genocide. William Schabas, emeritus professor in University of Galway, who is a world renowned specialist on genocide, says that Israel is acting with genocidal intent. Let us look at what is happening: 13,000 people are dead, 33,000 people have been injured, 275,000 homes have been destroyed, 1.7 million people are displaced and an example of the attitude of the Israeli Government is that the deputy speaker of the Israeli Parliament last week said of Israel's actions, "We are too humane. Burn Gaza now".

We have all the evidence we need that a genocide is being committed and yet the Government has done nothing. It is not discharging its responsibilities under the genocide convention, which it is required to do under law. It is also facilitating the US military at Shannon Airport, while the US Government has publicly stated that it is supporting militarily and financially all of Israel's actions in Gaza. When will the Government, which, under the genocide convention, is required to do everything in its power to stop the genocide that is being committed, act and stop facilitating US troops at Shannon Airport who are military, financially and politically supporting the Israeli genocidal actions in Gaza?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We will propose an amendment to People before Profit's motion tonight in which we will call on the House to deeply deplore the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the death of more than 11,000 people, almost half of whom were children, as a consequence of Israel's military actions in Gaza, condemn the barbaric acts on 7 October by Hamas in Israel and specifically condemn the killing of children and civilians.

We will raise our very deep concerns about violence in the West Bank, in particular settler violence against Palestinians. We note that an investigation is being carried out by the prosecutor of the ICC. We also note the additional funding that we have provided for the ICC, and add to our call for all hostages to be released.

While the Deputy is very welcome to put down his motion, it does not mention, at all, Hamas or the human rights abuses committed against Israeli citizens. We think that is an omission. That is why we cannot support the motion and why we have put down our own one. We do not believe what happened in Israel - the killing of 1,200 people, the killing of children and the taking of hostages - is so insignificant that it does not merit even a line in the motion. That is why we are not going to support it and why we have put down a countermotion which we think is more balanced. I hope, even if the Deputy cannot vote for it on the first vote, that he will at least vote for it on the second vote.

In relation to Shannon Airport, under the terms of the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order 1952, all foreign military aircraft wishing to overfly and land in the State require diplomatic clearance from the Minister for Foreign Affairs. This is subject to strict conditions with full respect to Ireland's policy of military neutrality, including that the aircraft is unarmed, that it carries no arms, ammunition or explosives, that it does not engage in intelligence gathering and that the flight in question does not form part of a military exercise or operation. The policy is well known and fully understood by the United States and other international partners, and is done in compliance with Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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On Shannon, the Taoiseach trusts the United States to tell the truth about what is on those planes. This is the same United States that told us there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and then continued to kill 1 million people in Iraq based on a pack of lies about weapons of mass destruction. We will not even search planes when it is backing up the slaughter that Israel is conducting.

The Taoiseach did not answer the question about genocide. When are we going to start to discuss it? All of the evidence fits the descriptions of genocide. Craig Mokhiber said, "This is a text-book case of genocide." Genocide is the most serious crime that can be committed. It is the most horrendous and obscene crime. That is what I am asking the Taoiseach to respond to. It has not been brought up to date. It has not even been covered by the ICC. I am asking the Taoiseach about the genocide convention and the obligation on a state to do absolutely everything required to prevent a genocide taking place when there is evidence that that is what is happening. I do not know why the Taoiseach is laughing about the use of the term "genocide".

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy, I am not. I appreciate why you have to say things like that, but I can absolutely guarantee that I am not. I am sorry you had to make that up, quite frankly. The Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, was telling me about something else.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That is even worse.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In relation to Shannon, the US does not fly planes through Shannon to Israel. It does bring some of its troops to service people through to bases in Europe and other parts of the world, and has done that for a very long time. I have set out the rules in relation to the use of Shannon Airport for transit.

I think that has happened to the Palestinian people for the past 75 years is shameful. It is appalling. I think the international community and, as part of that, the West and the Arab world have let them down extremely badly. That is putting it way too mildly. It has been a story of dispossession, a story of occupation and a story of significant loss-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Apartheid.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----and killings, and that has to change. I hope that one of the things that can come out of this, if anything can come out of this, is a renewed effort from all sides - the West, the Arab world and the Islamic world - to demand a two-state solution to give the Palestinians the homeland they need.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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And the genocide.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am not an expert on terms like "genocide". My understanding of genocide is that it is an attempt to obliterate an entire nation or an entire people. For example, the Holocaust, or Shoah, and the killing of 6 million Jews, which was half the Jewish population, was certainly genocide, or an attempted genocide.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Government will not even look at it. It should look at its obligations under the genocide convention.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We will look at it.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I put on record that for nearly four decades, I have been providing accommodation to all sectors of society, including in the past couple of years, to Ukrainian families fleeing the war. I speak today on a subject that has risen its head very much in the past weeks in the town of Killarney, which is the fact that 77 international protection applicants were to be located on the Muckross Road, a mainly tourist and residential area. At yesterday's full council meeting, a resolution put forward by Councillor Niall O'Callaghan was passed asking that the Minister would meet with a group from the town. I am glad it has been organised by the Minister that people from his Department will meet representatives from this area, but what this highlights is the fact that the cart has been put before the horse. What we need in situations like this is consultation ahead of time and not, for example what happened in this case. What happened in this case is county councillors, TDs and Senators all were notified after the deal was done. I would like confirmation on whether the Taoiseach or the Minister can clarify if an actual contract has been put in place with that particular property. In other words, before meeting with these people at all, can we be told on the floor of Dáil Éireann whether this is a deal done? Is the meeting coming as we were informed, too little too late, or what is the contractual situation between the owner of the properly or company operating it and the Department dealing with these international protection applicants?

It is important that we protect what I would call the tourism product in Killarney. Do not get me wrong, Killarney town has risen - as has County Kerry and the rest of the country - to the challenge that has befallen us. It would be very wrong and unfair for anybody to point their finger and say it was the Taoiseach's fault. He did not invade Ukraine. We were left with the situation in which we are but we have to raise questions about the number of people who travel from and jump other countries to come here as international protection applicants seeking protection in this State. Why are we so attractive as opposed to everywhere else? The business people who marched last Saturday were not a group of people who were angry or outraged for the sake of it. These were residents from the Muckross Road and from the housing estates around it and employers from the town, who attended a public meeting. It was what I would call a town hall-style meeting. It was a very respectful and sound meeting chaired by two former local representatives and it was held very properly. A number of things were raised at this meeting. Questions were raised for the Minister as to why Killarney was being put in this situation.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. At the outset, I recognise that very many communities across the country, including in County Kerry, have accepted and even welcoming large numbers of Ukrainians and international protection applicants in the past few years. With respect to the Harmony Inn in Kingscourt, Killarney, the Minister has met the Kerry TDs, the mayors of Kerry and of Killarney, and the chief executive of Kerry County Council. I think that meeting may have been about two weeks ago. The community engagement team in the Department of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is engaging with elected representatives in Kerry and will continue to do so. It is also happy to engage with representatives of local residents. I understand that a contract is now in place but I do not know the details of that. I appreciate that Kerry now has approximately 685 international protection applicants living in the county. As roughly 3% of the population, that is approximately 3% of international protection applicants, but I appreciate there may be particular places within Kerry where the number is high and that this has an impact on local services and the local economy. We understand people's concerns in that regard. For this reason, the Government is putting in place a scheme to help small business. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, is currently developing that €250 million scheme to help all businesses with increased costs. Separate to that, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is developing a dedicated scheme through Fáilte Ireland to help businesses where their footfall has been affected by the fact that a large proportion of tourist beds have been taken out of the system in order to accommodate people seeking refuge from abroad.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Taoiseach for being factual in telling us that the contract is in place because there was uncertainty about that. What that tells me is that officials now meeting with public representatives - be they councillors, TDs or the local residents - is actually a waste of time because the deal is done and the people are going into that property according to what the Taoiseach is just after saying. What I am asking him is how right is it to do that in this way with no consultation with the local councillors or residents' associations who are so worried?

There is a very elderly lady living right next door to this property who is very worried about the change that this is going to have on her property. Young couples in the surrounding estates, and middle-aged and older people who have paid off their mortgages, are very fearful about this. That is why engagement is so important. The Taoiseach is saying that we are going to have engagement but we are having engagement after the contract has been put in place. I think that is the wrong way to do our business. That is not the right way to engage with communities and that is not the way to bring communities with us.

If the place is wrong and if Killarney town is full, I believe that the Department should recognise that in the interests of protecting local jobs in our community and the tourism product that people have worked on for over 100 years. There are families steeped in the tradition of hospitality and now they feel their businesses are being put in danger because of this.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As I mentioned in my earlier reply, a community engagement team has been established. It is engaging directly with elected representatives, relevant local than local authorities, the local development companies and other entities and individuals. The purpose of the community engagement team is to improve the flow of information regarding arrivals into areas and to help equip local communities with information required to help them understand the current situation and to assist with the welcome and integration process for new arrivals. The team is there to hear people's concerns and to respond to them. People will have reasonable concerns about the impact on services like healthcare and education, issues around safety in some cases and the impact on the local economy. The whole role of that community engagement team is to give people information, to dispel misinformation and to listen to genuine concerns that people have when a large number of people move into their town. That is the whole idea around engagement.

I know Deputy Healy-Rae is not saying otherwise, but I should say that nobody has a right of veto to say who lives near them, beside them, or in their town or village. I do not. Deputy Healy-Rae does not. I know he is not calling for it. It is not the case that community engagement is about seeking permission from communities as to whether people are going to move into the area, it is about information, dispelling misinformation and responding to genuine worries about services, safety and the local economy.